Ministry of Justice: Toutful checks of NGOs are better than massive

The Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov proposed to abandon the preventive mass inspections of NPOs in favor of point. “First of all, those organizations in relation to which there are information that they violate the law are being verified,” the words of the head of the Ministry of Justice reports to RIA Novosti at a meeting with the State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin. The minister added that violations in the activities of NGOs are not systematic - sanctions based on the results of inspections were applied to "record organizations".

The day before, speaking at the Presidential Council for Human Rights, Konovalov said that the register of NPO - "foreign agents" could forever remain empty. The minister noted that it is impossible to oblige the organization to register, including a court decision, and added that he does not know a single case of enforcement liquidation of NGOs.

Mass inspections of NPOs after the adoption of the law on "foreign agents" began in Russia in the spring. Officials visited several hundred organizations in most regions of the country. According to the results of the inspections, Russian courts appointed several NPOs large fines for not registering as "agents". From 15 organizations, the prosecutor's office demanded to “eliminate” the alleged violations of the Law on Agents, obliging them under the threat of large fines within a month to submit applications for inclusion in the corresponding register. In addition, the supervisory authority issued official warnings of at least 39 NPOs.

In mid -May, Tatyana Vagina, Deputy Director of the Department of the Ministry of Justice for NGO Affairs, said that not a single NPO was registered as a “foreign agent” in Russia.

In early June, the Government Commission approved a bill, expanding the grounds for unscheduled inspections of the NGO Minoust. The document was developed by the Ministry on behalf of President Vladimir Putin.

One of the grounds for verification will be the receipt of information about the presence of signs of extremism in the activities of NGOs. Also, among the grounds for verification, the expiration of the violation specified in the previously issued warning is named. The visit of controllers to NPOs is possible after receiving the submission of the election commission on the conduct of the audit in accordance with the laws on political parties and on guarantees of electoral rights of citizens.

Putin stated on June 14 at a meeting with representatives of the Civil Summit G20 on June 14, about the fact that the practice of applying the Law on NPOs should be analyzed and, perhaps, in a meeting with representatives of the civil summit. Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich also advocated a change in the law.

On June 13, Kommersant reported that the Russian NGOs found ways to avoid registration as "foreign agents". One way is to open a commercial company, which will receive money from abroad. At the same time, the publication noted that the evasion of registration carries the risks of accusation of fraud for NGOs.